Radio Broadcasting

These days, many people think of "radio" as that thing attached to their clock or what they listen to in their cars. But radio transmission is a science. Learn more about this technology, from Ham Radio to Sirius and XM.

The band that radio stations use is completely arbitrary. Learn how that relates to the specific frequency that FM stations use, and why all the FM radio stations in the United States end in an odd number?

A college student in Wisconsin hears a dj in Jamaica play the latest calypso tune. An advocacy group unites members across the country via a private broadcast. It's made possible by Internet radio, the latest innovation in radio broadcasting since the business began in the early 1920s.

Radio is the fundamental technology behind TV, cordless phones, cell phones and microwave ovens, for a start. Just about anywhere you go, radio wave transmissions are passing above you, around you, and even through you!

The air around you is bursting with radio waves -- and you can tap into them with minimal effort. With a simple radio scanner, all sorts of transmissions are within your earshot. Find out how radio scanners let you listen in on everything from police to astronaut transmissions.

AM radio, FM radio, CB radio, short wave radio, VHF, UHF -- what's it all mean? These are all different chunks of the radio spectrum. Find out all about the thousands of different uses for radio waves.